In continuation of previously proposed experiments, The Salk Institute Alcohol Research Center will extend ongoing interdisciplinary investigations on the molecular, cellular and behavioral neurobiological mechanisms underlying the acute and chronic actions of ethanol on the brain. Short-term actions of alcohol will be evaluated in terms of alterations in neuronal discharge responses to activation of selected neural pathways, changes in neuro-endocrine regulation, and changes in subcortical electroencephalographic activity, as well as in human cortical and brain stem sensory evoked responses, and in operant behaviors in experimental animals. Lower term actions of alcohol will be derived from methods of ethanol administration which control for nutritional and behavioral side effects of intoxication. Effects of alcohol will be examined on cell division and differentiation in cultured fetal brain and liver cell, on the ontogenesis of chicken and rat embryos, and on gonadal regulation. The possibility that an important segment of ethanol actions are mediated through one or another alcohol-derived condensation product will be evaluated through light and electron microscopic cytochemistry, cellular electrophysiology and whole animal behaviors.